The story Night & Pharaoh recounts a dream Mr. Handsome had when he was four. In that dream, he becomes a benevolent pharaoh, building 1000 playgrounds for the people of his kingdom. Eventually, he becomes heralded as Lucas the Great.

In her illustrations for Night & Pharaoh, Catherine invented the toys one might expect to find in a 750 BC Egyptian playground. They work for me! Catherine told me this was her usual modus operadi: she’d envision an illustration, look at images online or in books and then invent. To me, her imagination and creativity are not merely inspirational, but a gift. I knew from the outset that In Mr. Handsome’s Garden needed an illustrator. Without Catherine’s work, the book would be just words on the page – nice words, maybe, but nothing much to look at.